Method for recording chip usage state information, chip of imaging cartridge and imaging cartridge

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a method for recording chip usage state information, a chip of imaging cartridge and an imaging cartridge. The chip of imaging cartridge includes: a substrate, and an information storage unit and a control unit which are provided on the substrate, the information storage unit includes a prioritized writing area and a normal read-write area, the method includes: when the chip receives a read/write operation command sent by an imaging device or when the control unit on the chip monitors a communication interference signal, the control unit on the chip updates a chip service state parameter stored in the prioritized writing area, the chip service state parameter is used for fault analysis of the chip. The chip service state parameter recorded can represent the usage state information of the chip itself, which provides powerful information to find and solve communication problems between the chip and the imaging device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/047,589, filed on Feb. 18, 2016, which is a continuation-in-part toU.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/461,313 entitled: “METHOD FORRECORDING CHIP USAGE STATE INFORMATION, CHIP OF IMAGING BOX AND IMAGINGBOX,” filed Aug. 15, 2014, now abandoned, which claims priority toInternational Application No. PCT/CN2013/075275, filed on May 7, 2013,which claims the priority benefit of Chinese Patent Application No.201210209303.5, filed on Jun. 21, 2012. The contents of the aboveidentified applications are incorporated herein by reference in theirentireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to imaging technologies and, inparticular, relates to a method for recording chip usage stateinformation, a chip of imaging cartridge and an imaging cartridge.

BACKGROUND

With the development of imaging technologies, imaging devices such ascopier, printer, facsimile machine, word processor etc. are widelyapplied. An imaging device is provided with consumables such as animaging cartridge for convenience of replacement, where the imagingcartridge is usually provided with a chip, which store information forenabling appropriate printing such as date code of manufacture,materials for the ink, the number of detachment of the ink cartridge andothers. During the using process of the imaging cartridge, the imagingdevice needs to update data in the chip of the imaging cartridgecontinuously, so as to ensure that the chip always records the lateststate of the imaging cartridge. Therefore, the chip in the imagingcartridge is especially important, if the chip deformed or damagedduring the using process of the imaging cartridge, then the wholeimaging cartridge will be unable to work. In order to guarantee thenormal use of the imaging cartridge, the chip is required to represent ahigh performance. The performance of the chip is significantly improvedthrough improving manufacturing process of the chip and adopting newtechnologies etc., however, in practical applications, there will stillbe problems in some chips, which result in that the imaging cartridge isunable to work.

In order to facilitate the manufacturer to find quality problems of theimaging cartridge, the existing imaging device usually writes suchparameters as temperature, moisture, number of pages printed, on-offtimes of the printer, whether the imaging cartridge has been reinstalledor not, times of installation, application region, information of themanufacturer etc which relate to the imaging cartridge, the manufacturercan find quality problems of the imaging cartridge through collectingthe information in the chip. However, the above state parameters are allimaging cartridge related information, which are written into the chipby the imaging device. Such state parameters can only represent theusage state of the imaging cartridge rather than that of the chipitself. Chip failure can lead to the unavailability of imaging cartridgeas well. Therefore, the above parameters recorded in the chip of theprior art can only be used by the manufacturer for failure analysis onthe imaging cartridge. Failure analysis on the chip cannot be conductedsince the chip doesn't record its own usage state.

SUMMARY

In order to overcome the above defects of the prior art, the presentinvention provides a method for recording chip usage state information,a chip of imaging cartridge and an imaging cartridge, which providespowerful information to find and solve the communication problemsbetween the chip and the imaging device.

The present invention provides a method for recording chip usage stateinformation, the chip includes a substrate, and an information storageunit and a control unit which are provided on the substrate, wherein theinformation storage unit includes a prioritized writing area and anormal read-write area. The prioritized writing area stores a chipservice state parameter which proactively updated by the control unit.The method for recording chip usage state information includes: whendetects at least one triggering conditions, the control unit holds theinstruction information from the imaging device and updates the chipservice state parameter stored in the prioritized writing area, thenexecutes the instruction from the imaging device.

The present invention further provides a chip of imaging cartridge, thechip includes: a substrate, and an information storage unit and acontrol unit which are provided on the substrate, the informationstorage unit includes a prioritized writing area and a normal read-writearea. The prioritized writing area is used for storing a chip servicestate parameter, the control unit is configured to prioritized updatethe chip service state parameter stored in the prioritized writing areawhen detects at least one of the triggering conditions.

The present invention further provides an imaging cartridge, whichincludes a chip of imaging cartridge, the chip includes: a substrate,and an information storage unit and a control unit which are provided onthe substrate, the information storage unit includes a prioritizedwriting area and a normal read-write area. During the process when theimaging device accesses the information storage unit, the prioritizedwriting area is rewritten first. The prioritized writing area is usedfor storing a chip service state parameter, the control unit isconfigured to prioritized update the chip service state parameter storedin the prioritized writing area when detects at least one of thetriggering conditions.

The chip service state parameter comprises one or more of atimes-of-writes parameter, a normal communication parameter, atimes-of-reads parameter, a times-of-communication-faults parameter or atimes-of-communication-interference parameter. And the triggeringconditions comprises one or more of the following conditions: that thechip receives a read operation command sent by an imaging device, thatthe chip receives a write operation command sent by an imaging device,and that the control unit on the chip monitors a communicationinterference signal.

Either working environment of the chip of imaging cartridge,misoperation of the user, running out of read-write service life of thechip, or faults of the chip itself will lead to a fault of the chip. Ifa fault occurs to the chip of imaging cartridge when the chip was usedonly for a few times, then the fault may possibly be caused by theperformance problem of the chip itself; if the chip of imaging cartridgehas been read or written for many times, the reason of the fault may bethat the chip is running out of normal service life.

When a fault occurs to the chip of imaging cartridge, through readingthe chip service state parameter in the prioritized writing area of theinformation storage unit in the chip of imaging cartridge and performingdata analysis on the chip service state parameter, it can be determinedwhether the fault occurred due to the performance problem of the chipitself or that the normal service life is running out, or the times ofnormal communication, times of communication faults and times ofcommunication interference are obtained, further, by combining with dataof usage state of the imaging cartridge recorded in each storage area inthe normal read-write area, it is beneficial to finding the reason whichcauses the fault of the chip of imaging cartridge and the fault of theimaging cartridge.

In the method for recording chip usage state information, the chip ofimaging cartridge and the imaging cartridge provided by the presentinvention, the information storage unit of the chip is provided with aprioritized writing area, the chip service state parameter recorded inthe prioritized writing area can represent the usage state informationof the chip itself Moreover, since the prioritized writing area willfirstly be accessed, the function of the usage state information willnot be affected no matter whether the operation of the imaging device onthe chip is successful or not, which provides powerful information tofind and solve the communication problems between the chip and theimaging device, and thus is beneficial to find the reason of the faultsoccurred to the imaging cartridge and the chip.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The above-mentioned and other features and advantages of this invention,and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and theinvention will be better understood by reference to the followingdescription of embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic depiction of an imaging device used inassociation with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a connection between ASIC 12 and theimaging cartridge chip 30.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of composition of a chip of imaging cartridgein the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of data arrangement of a chip informationstorage unit of an imaging cartridge in the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method for recording chip usage stateinformation in the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of data arrangement of a chip informationstorage unit of an imaging cartridge in the first embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a method for recording chip usage stateinformation in a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of data arrangement of a chip informationstorage unit of an imaging cartridge in the second embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of a method for recording chip usage stateinformation in a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of data arrangement of a chip informationstorage unit of an imaging cartridge in the third embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of a method for recording chip usage stateinformation in a third embodiment of the present invention.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding partsthroughout the several views. The exemplifications set out hereinillustrate preferred embodiments of the invention, and suchexemplifications are not to be construed as limiting the scope of theinvention in any manner.

DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS

Referring now to the drawings, and particularly to FIG. 1, there isshown a diagrammatic depiction of an imaging device used in associationwith the present invention. Imaging device 1 includes a user interface10, an imaging cartridges installation position 11, an ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) 12 and image recording unit 13. Theuser interface 10 is used to connect the computers, mobile phones,cameras, Internet and other external devices so that the imaging devicecan receive related instructions from such external devices. One or moreimaging cartridges 20 are installed on the imaging cartridgesinstallation position 11 in a detachable way which equipped with a chip30. Different imaging cartridges 20 can carry the imaging substances ofdifferent colors or types, and provide such imaging substances to theimage recording unit 13. Conventionally, a communication interface 21 isset on the imaging cartridge installation position 11. When the imagingcartridge 20 is installed on the imaging cartridge installation position11, ASIC 12 communicates with chip 30 via the communication interface21. ASIC 12 is the “heart” of imaging device, which is applied toanalyze the instructions from the user interface 10, control the imagingoperation of the image recording unit 13, record the status informationof the imaging device 1 and the imaging cartridge 20, calculate theremaining amount of imaging substance in the imaging cartridge, read orwrite date from/into the chip 30, and etc.

In the context of the examples for imaging device 1 given above, imagerecording unit 13 can be, for example, an ink jet print-head unit or anelectro-photographic printing unit, and includes an imaging head 31 usedfor forming an image on a substrate, such as a sheet of print media or aphotoconductive member. imaging cartridge 20 can be, for example, an inksupply tank, an ink jet print-head cartridge (PH), a toner tank, or anelectro-photographic process (EP) cartridge, each of which containing asupply of an imaging substance, such as for example ink or toner, thatis consumed during an imaging process. Imaging device 1 uses the imagingsubstance contained in imaging cartridge 20 to form an image on printmedia 34. Print media 34 can be, for example, sheets of paper, fabric ortransparencies.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that image recording unit 13 andimaging cartridge 20 may be formed as individual discrete units, or maybe combined in an integral unit. For example, in ink jet technology,such an integral unit may be an ink jet print-head cartridge PHincluding an ink reservoir and an ink jet print-head formed as a unitaryconsumable. Thus, for convenience, the term “imaging cartridge” is usedto encompass either the discrete configuration or the integralconfiguration described above, and is an example of a consumable.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a connection between ASIC 12 and theimaging cartridge chip 30. When the imaging cartridge 20 is installed onthe imaging cartridge installation position 11, the communicationinterface 21 will establish the bus connection between a plurality ofchips 30 and ASIC 12. Conventionally, the bus connection includes powerline VCC, grounding GND, clock line CLK and Address/Data line. However,there are also a small part of the imaging devices using wirelesscommunication to establish connection between chip 30 and ASIC 12. Thespecific content of bus connection is subject to the communicationprotocol applied. During the operation of the imaging device, ASIC 12may conduct reading and writing on the chip 30 at default timing asrequired by the imaging device. Default timing is a pre-designedoperation rule in the imaging device, which could be: time when theimaging device is power on, time before the power cutoff of imagingdevice, time when a imaging operation ends and the time when the ASIC 12detects that the imaging substances is about to run out. Reading andwriting contents of ASIC 12 on the chip 30 are pre-set items based onthe imaging requirements of the imaging device, such as imagingsubstance amount, imaging date, access count of the chip and other dataclosely related to the imaging device and imaging cartridge.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of composition of a chip of imaging cartridgein the present invention, FIG. 4 is a schematic view of data arrangementof a chip information storage unit of an imaging cartridge in thepresent invention; as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the chip of imagingcartridge 30 includes: a substrate, and an information storage unit 32and a control unit 33 which are provided on the substrate; theinformation storage unit 32 includes a prioritized writing area 40 and anormal read-write area 41. During the process when imaging device visitsinformation storage unit 33, the prioritized writing area 40 isrewritten preferentially.

Wherein, the prioritized writing area 40 is used by the control unit 33to store data “proactively”. “Proactively” means the control unit 33doesn't operate as instructed by ASIC 12 of the imaging device, butactively store data in the prioritized writing area 40 when detecting atleast one of the triggering conditions, which referred to asNon-instruction Data. By contrast, many of the current chips are alldesigned to access data as instructed after receiving the instructionsfrom the imaging device. The prioritized writing area 40 of the chip 30only used for storing Non-instruction Data, according to the presentinvention, it is used for storing a chip service state parameter, ofwhich the initial value is 0.

The normal read-write area 41 is used by the control unit 33 to storeand access data “passively”. “Passively” means the control unit 33, uponreceiving the instructions sent from the imaging device, reads/writesthe data on the corresponding locations of the normal read-write area 41on orders. The storage areas in the normal read-write area 41respectively store state information of the imaging cartridge which willchange with the print operation, such as times of installation of theimaging cartridge, remaining amount data of recording materials, numberof pages printed etc., and identification data of the imaging cartridgewhich will not change with the print operation, such as open time, dateof manufacture, serial number of the imaging cartridge etc. In thisembodiment, a first storage area 121 in the normal read-write area 41 isused for storing data of times of installation of the imaging cartridge,a second storage area 122 and a third storage area 123 are respectivelyused for storing remaining amount of a first recording material andremaining amount of a second recording material. The data stored in thenormal read-write area 41 is used for ASIC 12 to perform normalread-write operations. The normal read-write operations arespecifically: ASIC 12 reads identification data of the imaging cartridgesuch as type of the imaging cartridge, color of the recording material,date of manufacture of the imaging cartridge etc. in the informationstorage unit 32, and state information of the imaging cartridge such asremaining amount of recording materials, number of pages printed etc.,and the imaging device writes the new state data of the imagingcartridge such as remaining amount of recording materials, number ofpages printed into the information storage unit 32, so as to update thestate information of the imaging cartridge.

The control unit 33 is configured to execute the instruction informationfrom ASIC 12 and hold the instruction information from the ASIC 12 whendetecting at least one triggering conditions, so as to update the chipservice status parameter values stored in the prioritized writing area40 and execute the instruction from the ASIC 12 after the values of thechip service status parameter are successfully updated.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of recording the chip service status according tothe present invention. Wherein, the chip includes a substrate, and theinformation storage unit 32 and the control unit 33 which are providedon the substrate, the information storage unit 32 includes theprioritized writing area 40 and the normal read-write area 41, as shownin FIG. 5, the method includes:

Step 101, the control unit 33 detects at least one of the triggeringconditions;

Step 102, holding the instruction information from ASIC 12 and updatingthe chip service status parameter stored in the prioritized writing area40. Specifically, the control unit 33 doesn't execute the commands(instruction information) from ASIC 12 for the time being, and firstlypoints to the address of prioritized writing area 40, so as to controlthe values of the chip service status parameter stored in theprioritized writing area 40 are updated, which specifically is toincrease the values of the chip service status parameter by 1;

Step 103, executing the commands from ASIC 12 and updating the datastored in the corresponding storage areas in the normal read-write area41 after executing step 102. Specifically, the control unit 33 points tothe location of storage area 121 and access to the normal read-writearea 41, so as to control the data stored in the corresponding storageareas of the normal read-write area 41 are updated by the imagingdevice.

In the embodiments provided with this article, the triggering conditionscould be one or a few types of the following conditions: the chipreceives a reading command from the imaging device; the chip receives awriting command from the imaging device; the control unit 33 of the chipmonitors a communication interference signal. And the chip service stateparameter comprises one or more of the following parameters: atimes-of-writes parameter, a normal communication parameter, atimes-of-reads parameter, a times-of-communication-faults parameter or atimes-of-communication-interference parameter.

The chip of imaging cartridge, the imaging cartridge and the method forrecording chip usage state information provided by this article canrepresent the usage state information of the chip itself through thechip service state parameter recorded in the prioritized writing area40. Moreover, when the chip receives reading/writing commands sent bythe imaging device or the control unit 33 monitors communication jammingsignals, the control unit 33 points to the location of prioritizedwriting area 40 first, the prioritized writing area 40 is accessed inadvance of the normal read-write area 41, and the chip service stateparameter is updated preferentially. Hence, whether the imaging devicesuccessfully operates the chip or not doesn't affect the updating ofchip service status parameter values. Such chip usage state informationmay play its due role in providing supportive materials to identify andsolve the communication problems between the chip and the imagingdevice, and is beneficial to find the reason of the faults occurred tothe chip.

In order to make the above-mentioned and other features and advantagesof this invention, and the manner of attaining them, more apparent andthe invention better to understood, the following description ofembodiments give several examples for method of recording chip usagestate information, which the triggering conditions and the chip servicestate parameter are particular conditions and parameter, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

EXAMPLE 1

In the first embodiment of the present invention, the triggeringcondition is the chip receives a writing command from the imagingdevice, and the chip service state parameter includes a times-of-writesparameter relate to the chip. FIG. 6 is a schematic view of dataarrangement of a chip information storage unit of an imaging cartridgein the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 6,the information storage unit 32 includes the prioritized writing area 40and the normal read-write area 41. During the process when the imagingdevice accesses the information storage unit, the prioritized writingarea 40 is rewritten in advance of the normal read-write area 41. Thestorage area 111 in the prioritized writing area 40 is used for storingthe times-of-writes parameter for the chip (initial value is 0), whichproactively updated by the control unit 33. In this embodiment, a firststorage area 121 in the normal read-write area 41 is used for storingdata of times of installation of the imaging cartridge, a second storagearea 122 and a third storage area 123 are respectively used for storingremaining amount of a first recording material and remaining amount of asecond recording material. The data stored in the normal read-write area41 is used for ASIC 12 to perform normal read-write operations.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a method for recording chip usage stateinformation in the first embodiment of the present invention, as shownin FIG. 7, when the chip receives a writing command sent by the imagingdevice, the control unit 33 , before executing the writing command fromthe imaging device, updates the chip service state parameter stored inthe prioritized writing area first, which includes:

Step 201, the control unit 33 receives a writing command from ASIC 12.

Step 202, holding the writing command from ASIC 12 and updates thetimes-of-writes parameter stored in the prioritized writing area 40.Specifically, the control unit 33 doesn't execute the writing commandfrom the imaging device for the time being, and firstly points to theaddress of a storage area 111, so as to control the value of thetimes-of-writes parameter stored in the prioritized writing area 40 isupdated, which specifically is to increase the value of thetimes-of-writes parameter by 1;

Step 203, executing the writing command from ASIC 12 and rewrite thedata stored in the corresponding storage areas in the normal read-writearea 41 after executing step 202. Specifically, the control unit 33points to the location of storage area 121 and access to the normalread-write area 41, so as to control the data stored in thecorresponding storage areas of the normal read-write area 41 are updatedby the imaging device.

Either working environment of the chip of imaging cartridge,mis-operation of the user, running out of read-write service life of thechip, or faults of the chip itself will lead to a fault of the chip. Ifa fault occurs to the chip of imaging cartridge when the chip was usedonly for a few times, then the fault may possibly be caused by theperformance problem of the chip itself; if the chip of imaging cartridgehas been read or written for many times, the reason of the fault may bethat the chip is running out of normal service life.

When a fault occurs to the chip of imaging cartridge provided by thefirst embodiment, through reading the times-of-writes parameter in theprioritized writing area 40 of the information storage unit 32 in thechip of imaging cartridge, the times of writes of the chip can bedetermined, thus it can be determined whether the fault occurred due tothe performance problem of the chip itself or that the normal servicelife is running out.

EXAMPLE 2

In the second embodiment of the present invention, the triggeringcondition is the chip receives a writing command from the imagingdevice, and the chip service state parameter further includes a normalcommunication parameter relate to the chip. FIG. 8 is a schematic viewof data arrangement of a chip information storage unit of an imagingcartridge in the second embodiment of the present invention. As shown inFIG. 8, the information storage unit 32 includes the prioritized writingarea 40 and the normal read-write area 41. During the process when theimaging device accesses the information storage unit, the prioritizedwriting area 40 is rewritten in advance of the normal read-write area41. The storage area 112 in the prioritized writing area 40 is used forstoring the normal communication parameter for the chip (initial valueis 0), which proactively updated by the control unit 33. In thisembodiment, a first storage area 121 in the normal read-write area 41 isused for storing data of times of installation of the imaging cartridge,a second storage area 122 and a third storage area 123 are respectivelyused for storing remaining amount of a first recording material andremaining amount of a second recording material. The data stored in thenormal read-write area 41 is used for ASIC 12 to perform normalread-write operations.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of a method for recording chip usage stateinformation in the second embodiment of the present invention, as shownin FIG. 7 and FIG. 9, step 301, step 302 and step 303 are the same withstep 201, step 202 and step 203 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, themethod further includes:

Step 304, after executing step 303, the control unit 33 determineswhether the data written by the imaging device to the chip has beenwritten into the normal read-write area 41 successfully or not, if yes,execute step 305, or else, the process ends;

Step 305, the control unit 33 updates the normal communication parameterstored in the prioritized writing area 40. Specifically, the controlunit 33 points to the location of storage area 112 so as to control thevalue of the normal communication parameter stored in the prioritizedwriting area 40 is updated, which specifically is to increase the valueof the normal communication parameter by 1.

If the imaging device sends a writing command to the chip of imagingcartridge provided by the second embodiment of the present invention,but the data is not written into the information storage unit 32successfully, there will be a situation that the times-of-writesparameter stored in the storage area 111 of the prioritized writing area40 is larger than the normal communication parameter stored in thestorage area 112 of the prioritized writing area 40. Thus the times ofcommunication faults occurred to the chip can be determined throughreading the times-of-writes parameter stored in the storage area 111 andthe normal communication parameter stored in the storage area 112 of theprioritized writing area 40, and it can be specifically determined thatin which time of executing the write operation command did the faultoccur to the chip. Of course, the normal communication parameter canalso be recorded through the following operations: when the chipreceives a writing command sent by the imaging device, the control uniton the chip accesses the prioritized writing area, and increases thenormal communication parameter stored in the prioritized writing area by1; after the communication, the control unit on the chip determineswhether the data written by the imaging device to the chip has beenwritten into the information storage unit successfully or not, if not,then decreases the normal communication parameter by 1, if yes, then theprocess ends.

EXAMPLE 3

In the third embodiment of the present invention, the triggeringcondition is the chip receives a writing command from the imagingdevice, and the chip service state parameter includes atimes-of-communication-faults parameter relate to the chip. FIG. 10 is aschematic view of data arrangement of a chip information storage unit ofan imaging cartridge in the third embodiment of the present invention.As shown in FIG. 10, the information storage unit 32 includes theprioritized writing area 40 and the normal read-write area 41. Duringthe process when the imaging device accesses the information storageunit, the prioritized writing area 40 is rewritten in advance of thenormal read-write area 41. The storage area 113 in the prioritizedwriting area 40 is used for storing the times-of-communication-faultsparameter for the chip (initial value is 0), which proactively updatedby the control unit 33. In this embodiment, a third storage area 121 inthe normal read-write area 41 is used for storing data of times ofinstallation of the imaging cartridge, a second storage area 122 and athird storage area 123 are respectively used for storing remainingamount of a first recording material and remaining amount of a secondrecording material. The data stored in the normal read-write area 41 isused for ASIC 12 to perform normal read-write operations.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of a method for recording chip usage stateinformation in the third embodiment of the present invention, as shownin FIG. 11, when the chip receives a writing command sent by the imagingdevice, the control unit 33 , before executing the writing command fromthe imaging device, firstly accesses the prioritized writing area, whichincludes:

Step 401, the control unit 33 receives the writing command from ASIC 12.

Step 402, holding the writing command from ASIC 12 and updates thetimes-of-communication-faults parameter stored in the prioritizedwriting area 40. Specifically, the control unit 33 doesn't execute thewriting command from the imaging device for the time being, and firstlypoints to the address of a storage area 113, so as to control the valueof the times-of-communication-faults parameter stored in the prioritizedwriting area 40 is updated, which specifically is to increase the valueof the times-of-communication-faults parameter by 1;

Step 403, executing the writing command from ASIC 12 and rewrite thedata stored in the corresponding storage areas in the normal read-writearea 41 after executing step 202. Specifically, the control unit 33points to the location of storage area 121 and access to the normalread-write area 41, so as to control the data stored in thecorresponding storage areas of the normal read-write area 41 are updatedby the imaging device.

Step 404, after executing step 403, the control unit 33 on the chipdetermines whether the data written by the imaging device to the chiphas been written into the normal read-write area 41 successfully or not,if yes, execute step 405, or else, the process ends;

Step 405, the control unit 33 updates the times-of-communication-faultsparameter stored in the prioritized writing area 40. Specifically, thecontrol unit 33 points to the location of storage area 113 so as tocontrol the value of the times-of-communication-faults parameter storedin the prioritized writing area 40 is updated, which specifically is todecreases the value of the times-of-communication-faults parameter by 1.

If the imaging device sends a write command to the chip of imagingcartridge provided by the third embodiment of the present invention, butthe data is not written into the information storage unit 32successfully, the imaging device will resend a write command. If thechip can write the data, which is sent by the imaging device to thechip, into the information storage unit successfully when the imagingdevice resends the write command, then the imaging cartridge is enableto work, but the data of the times-of-communication-faults parameterwill be stored in the prioritized writing area 40, which can representthe unsuccessful times of writes of the data into the informationstorage unit; if the imaging device sends the write command for multipletimes, but the chip still does not write the data, which is sent by theimaging device to the chip, into the information storage unitsuccessfully, then the imaging cartridge is unable to work, the data ofthe times-of-communication-faults parameter will be stored in theprioritized writing area 40. In this way, whether a fault occurs to thechip of imaging cartridge or not and the times-of-communication-faultscan be determined through reading the times of communication faultsparameter stored in the storage area 113 of the prioritized writing area40 in the information storage unit of the chip.

EXAMPLE 4

In the fourth embodiment of the present invention, the triggeringcondition is the chip receives a reading command from the imagingdevice, and the chip service state parameter includes a times-of-readsparameter relate to the chip. On the basis of the first embodiment ofthe present invention, the procedure of the method for recording chipusage state information and the data arrangement of the informationstorage unit of the chip of imaging cartridge in this embodiment aresubstantially the same with those in the first embodiment, thedifference therein is only to replace the writing command with a readingcommand sent by the imaging device, and replace the times-of-writesparameter with a times-of-reads parameter. When the chip receives theread/write operation command sent by the imaging device, the controlunit on the chip updates the chip service state parameter stored in theprioritized writing area first, which includes:

In the chip of imaging cartridge in this embodiment, the control unit isspecifically configured to hold the instruction from ASIC 12, doesn'texecute the commands from the imaging device for the time being, andupdates the chip service status parameter stored in the prioritizedwriting area 40 first, when the chip receives the reading command sentby ASIC 12, which specifically is to accesses the prioritized writingarea 40 and increases the times-of-reads parameter by 1.

When a fault occurs to the chip of imaging cartridge provided by thefifth embodiment of the present invention, through reading thetimes-of-reads parameter in the prioritized writing area 40 in the chipof imaging cartridge, the times of reads of the chip can be determined,thus it can be determined whether the fault occurred due to theperformance problem of the chip itself or that the normal service lifeis running out.

EXAMPLE 5

In the fifth embodiment of the present invention, the triggeringcondition is the control unit 33 of the chip monitors a communicationinterference signal, and the chip service state parameter includes atimes-of-communication-interference parameter relate to the chip.

In the method for recording chip usage state information, when thecontrol unit 33 monitors a communication interference signal, thecontrol unit 33 hold the instruction from ASIC 12, doesn't execute anycommands from the imaging device for the time being, and updates thechip service status parameter stored in the prioritized writing area 40first, which includes:

The control unit 33 monitors the communication signal sent by theimaging device all the time, when the chip is in a non-read-write state,and when the control unit on the chip monitors a high pulse signal fromthe imaging device, the control unit doesn't execute any commands fromthe imaging device for the time being, and accesses the prioritizedwriting area first, which specifically is to increases thetimes-of-communication-interference parameter stored in the prioritizedwriting area by 1;

When the chip is in a read-write state, the control unit 33 compares thevoltage of the received communication signal with a preset voltagethreshold, when the voltage of the communication signal exceeds thevoltage threshold, doesn't execute any commands from the imaging devicefor the time being and accesses the prioritized writing area first,which specifically is to increases thetimes-of-communication-interference parameter stored in the prioritizedwriting area by 1; preferably, the above voltage threshold can be set as5V.

In the chip of this embodiment, the control unit 33 is specificallyconfigured to proactively access the prioritized writing area 40 andincrease the times-of-communication-interference parameter stored in theprioritized writing area by 1 when the chip is in a non-read-write stateand monitors a high pulse signal from the imaging device; compare thevoltage of the received communication signal with a preset voltagethreshold when the chip is in a read-write state, and when the voltageof the communication signal exceeds the voltage threshold, proactivelyaccess the prioritized writing area 40 and increase thetimes-of-communication-interference parameter stored in the prioritizedwriting area by 1.

When a fault occurs to the chip of imaging cartridge provided by thesixth embodiment of the present invention, through reading thetimes-of-communication-interference parameter stored in the prioritizedwriting area of the information storage unit in the chip of imagingcartridge, the times of interference suffered by the chip during thecommunication process can be determined, which is beneficial to findingthe reason of the faults occurred to the chip.

The present invention further provides an imaging cartridge, whichincludes a chip of imaging cartridge in any of the above embodiments,through reading the chip service state parameter, which represents theusage state of the chip, in the prioritized writing area of theinformation storage unit in the chip of imaging cartridge and/or readingthe data of the usage state of the imaging cartridge recorded in eachstorage area of the normal read-write area, the reason of the faultsoccurred to the imaging cartridge and the chip of imaging cartridgeinstalled thereon can be found.

In addition, as for the prior art, the chip stores the information ofremaining amount of recording materials, if the recording materials inthe imaging cartridge run out (i.e. the information of remaining amountof recording materials reaches a threshold), the chip will no longerwork, and the imaging cartridge will no longer work either even if theimaging cartridge is refilled, which causes a waste and environmentpollution. In order to solve the problem, there is a kind of reset chipin the prior art: a reset module is added on a disposable chip, themodule presets a reset threshold (for example, the information ofremaining amount of recording materials is 10%), when the information ofremaining amount of recording materials stored in the chip reaches thethreshold, the chip will reset automatically (for example, theinformation of remaining amount of recording materials is updated as100%), and the chip after reset can represent a new imaging cartridge.With respect to the reset chip, since the prioritized writing area andthe normal read-write area are provided separately in all embodiments ofthe present invention, that is to say the information such asinformation of remaining amount of recording materials etc. is stored inthe normal read-write area, therefore, when the information of remainingamount of recording materials stored in the chip reaches the threshold,the data updated is the data in the normal read-write area, and the dataof the chip service state parameter which is recorded in the prioritizedwriting area and represents the chip usage state information will notlost due to reset of the chip.

In the method for recording chip usage state information, the chip ofimaging cartridge and the imaging cartridge provided by the presentinvention, as a result of the arrangement of the prioritized writingarea in the information storage unit of the chip of imaging cartridgeand the method that when the chip receives a read/write operationcommand sent by the imaging device or the control unit on the chipmonitors a communication interference signal, the prioritized writingarea will firstly be accessed and the chip service state parameter areupdated, in the chip of imaging cartridge, the imaging cartridge and themethod for recording chip usage state information provided by theseembodiments, the usage state information of the chip itself can berepresented through the chip service state parameter recorded in theprioritized writing area, moreover, since the prioritized writing areawill firstly be accessed, the function of the usage state informationwill not be affected no matter whether the operation of the imagingdevice on the chip is successful or not, which provides powerfulinformation to find and solve the communication problems between thechip and the imaging device. When a fault occurs to the chip of imagingcartridge, through reading the chip service state parameter in theprioritized writing area of the information storage unit in the chip ofimaging cartridge and performing data analysis on the chip service stateparameter, it can be determined whether the fault occurred due to theperformance problem of the chip itself or that the normal service lifeis running out, or the times of normal communication, times ofcommunication faults and times of communication interference areobtained, further, by combining with data of usage state of the imagingcartridge recorded in each storage area in the normal read-write area,it is beneficial to finding the reason which causes the fault of theimaging cartridge and the fault of the chip.

The imaging device according to the present invention can be a devicehaving imaging functions such as printer, facsimile machine, copier,word processor, all-in-one machine etc., the imaging cartridge can be animaging component installed on the imaging device such as ink cartridge,toner cartridge etc., and the recording material can be ink, toner etc.

Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are merelyprovided for describing the technical solutions of the presentinvention, but not intended to limit the present invention. It should beunderstood by those of ordinary skill in the art that although thepresent invention has been described in detail with reference to theforegoing embodiments, modifications can be made to the technicalsolutions described in the foregoing embodiments, or equivalentreplacements can be made to some of or all of the technical features inthe technical solutions; but such modifications or replacements will notcause the essence of corresponding technical solutions to depart fromthe scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the presentinvention.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An imaging cartridge chip of an imagingcartridge, which can be installed on an imaging device, wherein theimaging cartridge chip couples with the imaging device by establishing acommunication path between the imaging cartridge chip and the imagingdevice, and the imaging device conducts reading and writing operationsto the imaging cartridge chip through the communication path, theimaging cartridge chip comprising: a substrate, and an informationstorage section and a control section, both of which are provided on thesubstrate, wherein: the information storage section comprises aprioritized writing area and a normal read-write area, the prioritizedwriting area stores a chip service state parameter related to theimaging cartridge chip, which is updated automatically by the controlsection proactively, while the normal read-write area stores stateinformation related to the imaging cartridge, which is read and updatedby the control section passively according to instructions from theimaging device, the control section is configured to: when the controlsection receives a reading or writing instruction from the imagingdevice, at first hold the reading or writing instruction from executingand update the chip service state parameter related to the imagingcartridge chip stored in the prioritized writing area preferentially,and then read or update the state information related to the imagingcartridge stored in the normal read-write area according to the readingor writing instruction from the imaging device, wherein: the chipservice state parameter related to the imaging cartridge chip stored inthe prioritized writing area comprises a times-of-communication-faultsparameter related to the imaging cartridge chip, the control section isspecifically configured to: when the control section receives thewriting instruction from the imaging device, at first increase a valueof the times-of-communication-faults parameter related to the imagingcartridge chip stored in the prioritized writing area by 1preferentially, then update the state information related to the imagingcartridge stored in the normal read-write area according to the writinginstruction from the imaging device, and after finishing updating thestate information related to the imaging cartridge stored in the normalread-write area according to the writing instruction from the imagingdevice successfully, decrease the value of thetimes-of-communication-faults parameter related to the imaging cartridgechip stored in the prioritized writing area by
 1. 2. An imagingcartridge containing recording materials and capable of being installedon an imaging device, the imaging cartridge comprising: an imagingcartridge chip, being coupled with the imaging device by establishing acommunication path between the imaging cartridge chip and the imagingdevice when the imaging cartridge is installed on the imaging device,and the imaging device conducts reading and writing operations to theimaging cartridge chip through the communication path, wherein: theimaging cartridge chip comprises a substrate, and an information storagesection and a control section provided on the substrate, the informationstorage section comprises a prioritized writing area and a normalread-write area, the prioritized writing area stores a chip servicestate parameter related to the imaging cartridge chip, which is updatedautomatically by the control section proactively, while the normalread-write area stores state information related to the imagingcartridge, which is read and updated by the control section passivelyaccording to instructions from the imaging device, the control sectionis configured to: when the control section receives a reading or writinginstruction from the imaging device, at first hold the reading orwriting instruction from executing and update the chip service stateparameter related to the imaging cartridge chip stored in theprioritized writing area preferentially, and then read or update thestate information related to the imaging cartridge stored in the normalread-write area according to the reading or writing instruction from theimaging device, wherein: the chip service state parameter related to theimaging cartridge chip stored in the prioritized writing area comprisesa times-of-communication-faults parameter related to the imagingcartridge chip, the control section is specifically configured to: whenthe control section receives the writing instruction from the imagingdevice, at first increase a value of the times-of-communication-faultsparameter related to the imaging cartridge chip stored in theprioritized writing area by 1 preferentially, then update the stateinformation related to the imaging cartridge stored in the normalread-write area according to the writing instruction from the imagingdevice, and after finishing updating the state information related tothe imaging cartridge stored in the normal read-write area according tothe writing instruction from the imaging device successfully, decreasethe value of the times-of-communication-faults parameter related to theimaging cartridge chip stored in the prioritized writing area by
 1. 3. Amethod for recording chip usage state information for an imagingcartridge chip, wherein the imaging cartridge chip comprises asubstrate, and an information storage section and a control sectionprovided on the substrate, the method comprising: coupling the imagingcartridge chip to an imaging device by establishing a communication pathbetween the imaging cartridge chip and the image device, wherein theinformation storage section of the imaging cartridge chip comprises aprioritized writing area and a normal read-write area, and the imagingdevice conducts reading and writing operations to the normal read-writearea of the imaging cartridge chip through the communication path;receiving a writing instruction from the imaging device; delayingexecuting the writing instruction from the imaging device; at firstholding the reading or writing instruction from executing andautomatically updating the chip service state parameter related to theimaging cartridge chip stored in the prioritized writing area by thecontrol section proactively and preferentially; and then updating thestate information related to the imaging cartridge stored in the normalread-write area by the control section passively according to thewriting instruction from the imaging device after finishing updating thechip service state parameter related to the imaging cartridge chipstored in the prioritized writing area, wherein: the chip service stateparameter related to the imaging cartridge chip stored in theprioritized writing area comprises a times-of-communication-faultsparameter related to the imaging cartridge chip, the updating the chipservice state parameter related to the imaging cartridge chip stored inthe prioritized writing area specifically comprises, automaticallyincreasing a value of the times-of-communication-faults parameterrelated to the imaging cartridge chip stored in the prioritized writingarea by 1 by the control section proactively and preferentially; and,automatically decreasing the value of the times-of-communication-faultsparameter related to the imaging cartridge chip stored in theprioritized writing area by 1 by the control section proactively, afterfinishing updating the state information related to the imagingcartridge stored in the normal read-write area by the control sectionpassively according to the writing instruction from the imaging devicesuccessfully.